


Cornered

by ThereIsNoTragedyInThat



Series: Spirits and Cocaine [10]
Category: Narcos (TV)
Genre: Co-workers, Denial of Feelings, Falling In Love, Ficlet, Jealousy, M/M, Pre-Slash, Self-Indulgent, Short & Sweet, pining Steve Murphy, sorry for the lack of fluff in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29439537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat/pseuds/ThereIsNoTragedyInThat
Summary: Steve can't quite figure out why it bothers him so much.
Relationships: Connie Murphy/Steve Murphy (Narcos), Steve Murphy/Javier Peña
Series: Spirits and Cocaine [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2100027
Comments: 4
Kudos: 36





	Cornered

**Author's Note:**

> In which Steve is pining and can't quite figure it out.

The office was dead quiet, empty chairs half turned away from desks, files stacked obscenely high, and only a skeleton crew to manage the occasional phone call or statements from people drifting in lookin for an hour of air conditioning. Steve had figured out pretty quickly that Fridays seemed to be some kind of unofficial day off, especially for those who didn’t get an actual weekend, people calling in and not even half-assing their excuses.

Usually, that made Fridays his favourite days, quiet and relaxed where he and Javi could just sit side by side and slowly comb through files and intel without anybody to distract them. Almost felt like a day off anyway, sitting back in his chair and shooting the shit with Javi once they got too bored, spit-balling ideas until they inevitably worked out the kinks in a narrative…it was nice.

Except this time, Steve found himself sitting stiffly in his chair, jaw clenched tight, hands obsessively smoothing the lines in his pants as he listened to Javier. His partner was on the phone, head tilted to hold it against his shoulder, pen spinning in one hand, lips twitching into a half smile at whatever the hell was being said.

Steve knew he was talking to one of his informants, was well-versed in the in the way Javi’s voice would grow soft and private when speaking to one of his girls, the man doing a remarkable impression of somebody a little bit in love. That wasn’t to say the women were naïve, quite the opposite, but Steve had yet to meet anyone who could turn down whatever Javier wanted when he offered his warmth…and threatened to take it away.

Javier chuckled lightly, murmured something in Spanish too quickly for Steve to follow and irritation prickled along his skin, one hand slowly curling into a fist. The thing was…Steve didn’t know why he was so upset, couldn’t fathom the reason why today of all days, he couldn’t bear to listen to his partner try to seduce a hooker on the phone and that only made him more frustrated.

Javier abruptly put the phone down, scribbling some notes in the margin of a case file that he definitely shouldn’t be using as stationary, before lifting his head and pinning him with a look that made Steve feel like he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“What’s your problem Murphy?”

Steve shook his head and shrugged, “nothing, why?”

Javier stared at him for a long moment and he stared right back, arching an eyebrow and trying to release some of the tension inside him, waited for his partner to comment like he knew he would and finally, after heaving a sigh, “if you have a problem with my informants being prostitutes, you might as well say something and get it off your chest.”

Just like that Steve’s stomach dropped, his irritation forgotten as his partner looked at him like he was disappointed, like he’d failed some kind of test and was ready to toss him away like yesterday’s garbage.

The thing was, he knew Javi took a lot of shit for his methods, that wasn’t news to him. He’d seen the looks that got tossed his way, the skeptical gazes when he presented intel, even the barely hidden insults, let alone the straight out remarks from others in the office. Javier went along with each one without complaint, would let his confidence speak for itself and stood behind each and every one of his informants without a moment’s hesitation, promising the names, dates, and places were good. He hadn’t blundered once, from what Steve had seen, had yet to provide anything that didn’t end up being true or that might be considered a ploy for a Visa.

In fact, as he’d learned more about Javier and his increasingly complicated and sprawling web of connections throughout the major cities, he’d been fucking impressed. Steve hadn’t worked much undercover, but he’d talked to dozens of men on the force back in Miami who walked the drug track, and he knew how difficult it was to earn trust and the fact that Javi managed it with his badge on display…well most people in this office couldn’t do that. From what he could tell, Javier was fair, didn’t promise more than he could give, yet he was a master at dangling possibility and pushing just that little bit harder. 

He had absolutely no problem with Javier’s informants being prostitutes and the last thing he wanted was to be lumped in with the other assholes in the office, for Javier to stop looking at him like he trusted him, to blank him out. Which, as the silence grew longer, seemed to be exactly what was happening as Javier’s face slowly seemed to shutter on him, leaving a spike of panic in his chest.

“I don’t have an issue with you working with em.”

“Really?” Javier’s doubt was obvious. “Then why are you looking at me like I’m pissing you off?”

Steve didn’t know how to explain to him that he didn’t care if his informants were hookers, but he didn’t want to hear him seducing those women all day, didn’t know how to make that come out in a way that didn’t make him sound like a prude at best or a jealous man at worst. It certainly didn’t help that he couldn’t figure out why it bothered him so much, why it kept him up at night imagining his hands on someone, that gravelly voice in his ear…

Swallowing thickly, he shoved the thought aside, “I just don’t need to listen to you trying to fuck someone through the phone Javi.”

To his relief, Javier chuckled even if it didn’t quite meet his eyes, “Christ Steve, you need to get laid.” He stood, file in hand, shaking his head and muttered, too low for the others in the office to hear as he walked off, “Fuck your wife and leave your frustration at home.”

Steve watched his retreating back, stomach twisting sickly, and decided that probably wasn’t terrible advice.


End file.
